“Alert, alert! Bananas are going extinct!”

“That’s bananas! The grocery store has bunches of them!”

Scientists sound the alarm. Bananas are truly in danger! A fungus called Panama disease moves through banana plants all over Asia. It could travel to the Americas next. Banana plants wilt. They die. The infection stays in the soil. Pesticides can’t get rid of it. Only one thing would help: planting a better banana! Scientists need a banana that can stand up to Panama disease. And as far as they know, that banana doesn’t exist yet. They have to build it! But how?

Most grocery store bananas are not wild. They’re called Cavendish bananas. People have bred Cavendish bananas so their seeds never mature. That makes a tastier banana. But it also causes a problem. No seeds means no plant breeding. Scientists cannot create disease-resistant bananas from the Cavendish plant.

Madagascan bananas are wild and exist only on the island of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. They have seeds in them—a lot of them. Have you ever eaten a banana full of seeds? Believe us, you don’t want to! The Madagascan banana is not edible. Still, it’s a treasure. It seems to resist Panama disease. Its seeds hold priceless genetic information. Scientists may be able to use them to breed a new variety of banana. They hope such a new banana could resist Panama disease—and taste good too.

But they’re running out of time. As far as we know, just five mature Madagascan banana trees survive in Madagascar today!

People have almost run out of bananas before. Prior to the 1950s, most people ate a banana called the Gros Michel or “Big Mike.” Some say Big Mike had better flavor. It tasted more like artificially-flavored banana candy. Panama disease wiped out Big Mike. So people planted Cavendish bananas. Then Panama disease changed. A version of the fungus in Asia can take out Cavendishes too!

Can you imagine a world without banana splits, banana bread, and peanut butter banana sandwiches? ­­­